


Here Has Her Soul Known Silence

by Zdenka



Category: Megillat Ester | Book of Esther
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Gen, Ghosts, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22989148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zdenka/pseuds/Zdenka
Summary: Esther wanders in the palace gardens of Shushan and feels another presence beside her.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 8
Collections: Purimgifts 2020, a lie strong and settled





	Here Has Her Soul Known Silence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jonphaedrus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonphaedrus/gifts).



Her people are safe, Haman has died by the death he meant for Mordechai, and Esther should be at peace. Yet as Esther wanders through the gardens of the palace at Shushan, there is something that troubles her, like a hand tugging lightly at her sleeve or a shape she cannot quite see out of the corner of her eye.

The gardens are beautiful and serene: fountains that rise and fall back into their basins with gentle splashing, long avenues lined with fragrant trees, shady bowers festooned with flowering vines where she can take refuge from the heat of the sun. Her maids follow at a distance, as she has asked; no one else is present. And yet it feels as if she is not alone.

Esther sits on the edge of a fountain, trailing her hand through the cool water. And for a moment, another image is reflected in the water beside hers: a woman, proud and very beautiful, crowned with gold. Esther cannot help the soft word that escapes her lips: “Vashti.”

Esther has never seen her predecessor, who died by the king’s command. How could she? The queen is kept strictly confined, seen only by the palace maidservants, the king’s eunuchs, and the king himself. Before being brought to the palace, Esther could never have thought of setting eyes on Persian royalty. But she is certain, she knows in her heart whose face it was she saw.

Esther raises her head, but no one is near; there is only the bright sun and the low calling of doves. Still she rises and bows gracefully, one queen to another. “These gardens are yours as much as mine, Lady Vashti. Of course you are welcome to spend time in them if you wish.” And she believes she is heard.

From then on, when she wanders in the gardens, she is not always alone. Though no shape is visible to the eye, as she walks along the garden paths, she can sense there is another who walks beside her. She calls softly, “Vashti, I am here.” And she feels the faintest brush against her cheek in acknowledgement.

**Author's Note:**

> Title and partial inspiration from the poem ["In the Gardens of Shushan"](http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/pickthall/pinions/pinions.html#shushan) by Marjorie Pickthall and its [musical setting](https://youtu.be/jBhjv3iUUzk) by Sheldon Rose.
> 
> I grew up with a version of the Esther story where Ahasuerus orders Vashti beheaded as in the midrash, not simply banished, and I still have to remind myself that Vashti didn't specifically die in the Megillah.
> 
> Image Credit:
> 
> _Vashti Refuses the King's Summons_ (1879), painting by Edwin Long. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Here Has Her Soul Known Silence](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26754841) by [Chestnut_filly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chestnut_filly/pseuds/Chestnut_filly)




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